The Five Times Q had to Return a Shiny and The One Time He Kept It
by made.for.life
Summary: Q is a Raven. A full blooded, honest Raven. They have an attraction toward shiny things. Sometimes this is a problem. Especially when it comes to the predator, James Bond.
1. Chapter 1

He was not a kleptomaniac. He would swear it to the day he died. Q was just really, really attracted to shiny objects. Technically it wasn't all his fault. He was a full blooded Raven. Anyone could tell by the black feathers lacing his frisked hair or, more objectively of course, the twin shining jet black wings spreading from each of his shoulders. Ravens like shiny, sparkly, radiant objects. It's just part of their biology. His mother and father understand completely being Ravens themselves.


	2. Chapter 2

He hadn't exactly stolen this shiny. His mother had given it to him with a smile.

"Here Alexander, go throw it in the wishing well. Make sure you make a good wish." His mother had said handing him something.

Admittedly, though it wasn't his best memory, he had squealed like a piglet. Incredible how such a small shiny coin could send his mind into a whirling frenzy. A beautifully clean, new nickel. The sun glinted off it into his eyes.

"Thank you!" He hugged her neck tightly.

His wings fluttered excitedly. He didn't have any flight feathers yet, being so young. His primary down was just soft and grey so far and it made muffling little huffs when he trotted out of the house. The muscles jerked a bit clumsily down the front porch stairs of their country home but he didn't mind. They always felt like a bit of a comforting presence to him, like a continuous pat on the back.

"Pretty." He crooned, a bit of a caw making its way into his voice.

There was a wishing well just beyond the edge of their property. The neighbors didn't mind at all that he trip tropped over there frequently, being a lonely old pair of Mourning Doves. Q's shoes slipped a little bit on the wet rocks under foot but his wings corrected him quickly. They snapped to hold his balance then flickered back and in without him noticing.

"Hey!" Someone called. "Hey you!"

He wasn't really paying attention, assuming that whoever it may be was calling to a friend lurking in the woods just next to them. Then someone grabbed his wing.

"Ow." He complained mildly. It hadn't really hurt all that much but it was not an expected little jolt.

The girl who had grabbed him, a Raccoon, looked kind of familiar but far more menacing than friendly. "Hey, yeah you Raven."

"Me?" He mouthed in confusion, holding his coin closer to his chest.

"Yeah!" She barked as two other Raccoons came to flank her. "What are you doin' in our turf?"

Q glanced around in confusion wondering if he had lost his way. No, he could see the wishing well not even twenty meters away. "This is the Wishermans' lawn." He said to them, tipping his head in confusion. "My property ended 4.76 meters back there." He gestured with his wing.

The one male Raccoon to the girl's right snarled. "I know him, he's that freaky geek guy from school. I say we get him!"

"Get me?" Q worried at his lip, wings rubbing together uneasily.

"Hey!" The girl snapped. "This is my gaze and I say who we gotta get." She looked at Q. "Get him!"

The two male Raccoons grabbed his wings.

The Raven struggled a bit. "Stop. That hurts."

He tried to wriggle his wings but they couldn't free themselves. Feathers snapped and dug the wrong way into his skin under their brutish grasps. They dragged him toward the well.

"Hey boffin," One taunted, "Maybe you can count how far down the bottom is!"

They shoved him against the lip and dumped him over. It was a narrow shafted and his wings got all tangled as he fell. The stone scratched and scraped and drew blood. Q cried out sharply as they laughed at the top of the hole. There was water at the bottom and it seeped into the young Raven's shoes.

"Catch you later freak!" One of them screamed down as they left.

Q looked up, almost wishing they would come back. One of his streaky wings was stuck, plastered straight up in the air. The other was nearly wrapped around him. Q maneuvered the lower one to fold uncomfortably against his back. It left the Raven with his chest pressed against the opposing wall.

"Help?" Q called tentatively.

He just stopped at that and tried to understand exactly where he was. He couldn't have fallen for more than two seconds so that put him less than twenty meters into the ground. Plus friction would have slowed him so less than fifteen then. Looking up, he couldn't see anything but the darkness of his own feather. Liquid dripped in his eye and oozed down his cheek. It tasted like iron and salt.

"Alexander?" Someone called out.

"Dad!" Q cried.

"Alex? Alex!" It sounded like his father was at the top of the well.

"Daddy! I'm down here!"

"It's okay." The man tried to sound soothing. "We'll get you out in just a second. Hang on okay?" The sound of his father's breathing vanished.

"Dad? Dad, please don't leave!" Q cried out involuntarily but the man was gone.

Q spun frantically trying to see upward. His ribs pressed harshly to the brick. The feather against his back splayed uncomfortably. Suddenly something wrapped around his waist. It tightened and it pulled him upward. He fought his crushed wing to keep it from being nearly rubbed off on the way up.

"Alexander." His mother took him into her arms immediately and soothed his downy feathers.

His father knelt next to them and hugged him too. Their neighbor, a doting Boa Constrictor, nodded to them with a soft smile. He crept away letting the parents fuss over the poor boy. It was only in his mother's arms that he realized that the nice shiny nickel was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

In Q's defense, the second one he didn't really get a chance to steal. College was so boring though. For hours every day he had to sit in a group of people who hated him and ignore the typically slightly incorrect preaching of some pretentious old person. They always looked at him like a shining star at first but after the first twenty seven corrections (yes he had averaged it) the smiles turned to glares.

"Thank you Mister Pearce." They would growl right after that key twenty seventh.

Mostly he just sat impatiently in class. He hated sitting. His back went all ridged, his latissimus dorsi tightening uncomfortably. Then his wings were just everywhere. They didn't fit comfortably between him and the chair. That position also mangled his feathers horribly. The only other choice was to extend one wing to either side. That also had its downfalls with the intense strain on his flight muscles. After a class period his wings were shaking and twitchy.

"Remember your homework is due Thursday." The old Tortoise shouted over the scuffle, snap, and zip of people packing up.

Q was already packed up. He hadn't really unpacked anything upon entering the class. The tone went off and the Raven was gone. All his classmates paused for a moment not wanting to risk his wildly flailing wings just to escape. Q held his backpack tight and beat his wings, up into the air and down again. Back to his dorm, his home and sanctuary. The old house was still available but it felt empty with his parents gone. The car accident had been tragic but with academic scholarships and accident compensation Q had been sent to the university at age seventeen. He should have been there at fourteen, then he would have actually been learning right now.

"Welcome back Alex." He roommate greeted. He was a friendly but aloof and tidy Siamese Cat. Typically solitary, which is why the two of them got on well.

"'Afternoon Robert." Q nodded.

They ignored each other as Robert continued reading and Q went over to his _standing_ desk, thank god. He had never meant to stumble upon the MI6 server but he had and now it was like an addiction. It shone brilliantly. It was all glowing green and red, the shiniest place on the internet by far. He just liked lurking there and watching it pulse with color and light. All its pixelated glory glinted and glittered. So what if he threw off a couple messages, he always read them first, they weren't important.

Lazily cruising through its awful security, even though some other hacker always tried to stop him, was a breeze. He could never really tell whose side the man was on. At times he threw all his fire power at the younger man but other times he dangled shiny bits in front of him almost encouragingly. There was today. The other kept dangling a particularly shiny series of motions in an mpeg file. He threw up firewall after blocking technique but Q was so perfectly intrigued he broke them down and down. He knew that the other would eventually back himself into a coding corner like he usually did.

There was knocking on the door but Q ignored it. Robert got right up, having expected a visitor. It didn't bother the tech-maniac. They generally had whoever the hell they wanted over. Neither had a girlfriend so they didn't have that problem of course. Everything fled from his mind as he cornered the other hacker. With a swipe of keys he had the short movie clip under his domain.

"Ha." Q grinned.

He heard a thump at the door way but was distracted by the sudden flash of colors and light. They pulsed wonderfully under his sharp green eyes. His feathers ruffled in pleasure. Suddenly the colors stopped and words came up instead.

 **Hello Alexander Pearce.**

Q swallowed hard. A suspicious sound clicked right next to his eyes.

 **I've had quite enough of you hacking my system.**

The words kept scrolling even as he turned to look at the Golden Retriever and the Horse behind him. They were dressed nicely but they had complacent grins smattered on their faces.

"Nice and easy now birdie." The Golden Retriever hummed.

The Horse snickered, its tail swished slightly. "We're just going for a ride."

The Raven snapped his laptop closed and grasped it to his chest, the movie vanished off the computer, disappearing back wherever it came from.


	4. Chapter 4

Q paced unsteadily in his office. He was completely unready to deal with this new, actually old, agent. The notorious 007. He had some vague idea of how he was going to deal with him but. A shiver ran down his spine. The agent's mission case lay open on his desk. Absent mindedly he picked up the small radio neatly inlayed by foam. The radio was sleek silver. The Raven fingered it.

"Q?"

The young male nearly jumped out of his skin. R startled at his fright. The Squirrel scanned for danger around her with caution. Usually he was never nervous despite being a bird which are notoriously jumpy. He had a calm façade to keep up with and a snarky mannerism when working missions. That seemed to work with most agents. 007 was just such an unknown. He was a completely undetermined variable where everyone else was an assigned number.

R flicked her spiked tail. "Sorry, sir I didn't think I would startle you."

Q flickered his wings, brushing off the apology. "My fault. I don't know where my mind is today."

R rubbed her tail, putting the hair back in place. "I would guess that it's running through your meeting with MI6's most notorious and dangerous agent."

"Yeah." Q laughed nervously.

They both fell into a pitifully awkward silence except for the light swish of the Raven's nervous wings. His long finger ran over the smooth edges of the radio. Maybe he shouldn't have cased it in so much heavy metal? Maybe it was too shiny? What if it got noticed? What if he got James Fucking Bond killed? The Raven swallowed hard as panic knotted his stomach.

"Well," R patted him on the shoulder, "Good luck." She gently closed the case on the way out, not noticing the missing radio.

The intercom system buzzed to life. "Q, you are prepared to go and are now running a minute behind schedule." M's voice came up without being a tone out of tune but still sounding like she could kill him with a word.

"On my way." Q held back a squeak in his voice.

He grabbed the case and his coat. He tried putting the handle in his mouth so he could get the coat on while he walked but it was too heavy. He was halfway to the subway before he finally mangled the thing on. The case was sitting next to his leg on the ground. He went to pick it up and accidently tripped a lady walking by.

"My apologies." He said quickly.

She waved it off and continued on her way. Q rubbed his head, holding his wings strangely off the seat. The muscles in his back already hurt from holding them off the floor and behind him. He just left the case on the floor, only tucking in the best he could between his feet. He frantically rubbed the object in his pocket and the train came to Q's final stop.

"Pardon me." He huffed as he pushed past a particularly heavy Bull.

The man grunted and flicked his ears. The Raven slipped, almost falling, off the train. He squeezed the case's handle and at the same time stroked the shiny in his pocket. He stared at the museum. Q didn't want to go in. He really didn't but his feet carried him regardless.

Q queued up his mind. "Okay brain, make nice with the one who could kill us in a second."

He spotted the man almost immediately and gaped. Most people alive were herbivores. That was just how genetics worked with the occasional house cat or domesticated dog interspersed within. Birds were second on the rarity chart. They just didn't happen that often and tended to stay with other birds when they could. The rarest were obviously aquatics. They tended to keep to themselves and therefore didn't reproduce. Right in between the two though nestled an almost non-existent category that had almost died out all together; predators, the larger the rarer. And here was Q, staring at one of the largest of them all. James Bond, one of the last known living Siberian Tigers.

The Raven hauled a professional mask onto his face and sat next to the man as calmly as possible. He set his mouth to autopilot and wandered his eyes over the man. His oddly blue eyes went from disdain to shock to annoyance all in one sitting. Then Q found himself handing the case over. 007 immediately opened it. Q glanced at it and stared. _Oh bloody buggering fuck._ The radio wasn't in its case like it was supposed to be. He was sending out the agent without a radio! Where the hell had he put it? Was it stolen? All this panic ran through his head behind a calm mask. Suddenly his frantic thoughts stilled. Actually he himself had stolen it.

"And this," He said, retrieving the radio from his pocket as if it had all been part of the show.

Once they parted Q finally sighed in relief to see the radio and the Tiger leave.


	5. Chapter 5

Post-Skyfall things were actually quite orderly for a transition Q had though. The nice basement where Q Branch called home stayed the same. The power shift from M to new M, as everyone had been calling him mentally, was smooth. The most surprising were the Double-O's. They respected Mallory or maybe they just feared 007. He glared others into obedience by positioning himself strategically to the left and in back of the Bulldog while he address the whole of MI6.

"Q, the Double-O's are here." R poked her head in.

He nodded. "Start equipping them, I'll join in a tick."

007 had been practically everywhere. He never seemed to leave the base anymore unless it was on missions, working out constantly in a desperate attempt to recover his old shape. Honestly in the Raven's opinion it was working splendidly. Bond had flanked Mallory at his announcements of his rise in the ranking to M. He had been at Q's trial for disobeying command chain during Skyfall. And now Bond was just on the other side of his office door probably stripping down for the new skin-tight flame suit they had created.

Q shook his head, exiting the office and immediately grabbed one of the Technicians. "Where are we?"

"In the middle of the primer coating, sir." The Bandicoot answered respectfully.

"Right." The Raven nodded.

The Double-O's effects were scattered across the table. Q could tell where 006 had shucked his off in a hurry, probably the last to arrive as usual. 005's clothes were semi-folded. She must have stopped caring by the time she got to her undershirt. Q walked around the table and stood by the last pile. Everything of Bond's was folded with precision, every premade crease followed and it looked just as pristine as a department store. The Raven picked up the watch on top of the pile and rolled it in his hands. It was far too large for him but it blinked and winked at him prettily in the light.

The doors opened and Q crossed his arms behind his back, a little flustered at the sight greeting him. Of course, the Double-O's had no qualm about strutting about stark. Well, the Q-Branch didn't really mind either. The way they glistened lightly from the non-stick primer coating made it all the more distracting.

"Agents." Q greeted crisply as he flustered in his mind. Thank god for multiple mentality. "I apologize for my late arrival and the nature of this procedure. Despite that you all look quite well glistened." His eyes sparked with amusement.

006 spoke up with a laugh. "I think we've all been covered in worse."

The Quartermaster nodded at the Viper conceding, his wings snapped a little conveying not anger but the need for undivided attention. One raised eyebrow from the Siberian Tiger had the other two quieted in seconds. Bond nodded at the younger man encouragingly.

"Right," Q bobbed his head back, "To bring this down to your level, what we have here is an extraordinarily light weight, second skin that can withstand up to the temperature of an explosion." He picked up one of the skin toned footie pajama filaments for their examination. "They are toned to match your natural coloration."

Which was why he knew immediately that he had picked up Bond's with the light discoloration of stripes down the back. The Raven glanced at the agent knowing the next part of procedure. In a mere flash of time he had judged the risk and deemed it adequately low. Bond was typically in a pliant mood when not in the field.

"Double-O Seven if you will." Q coolly arched an eyebrow and gestured next to him.

The Tiger's tail flicked just at the end as he approached. It was intimidatingly gorgeous Q had decided in his own head. The glistening across the re-formed six pack, across the scars marring the war chest, and across the, uh, lower bits. Bond flicked him a private wink before turning to face his audience. He stood impassively and Q gratefully mimicked his expression.

Q nodded to the technicians in the background of the work area. "There are a plethora of people about to assist you. With a squick of charm that most of you lack they would probably do the whole thing for you but be gentle, until the material has had a chance to actually adhere to your skin it is a bit fragile."

He gave Bond a pleading look and tiny flutter of wings. The man was usually rough on everything within his immediate vicinity. The Raven got down on one knee and held the foot of the material open for him. A hand threaded through the hair on Q's head and he started thankfully not violent or he and the agent both would have gone over. He slapped a wing to the floor for balance.

"Sorry." Bond silently huffed with a flick of his rounded ears.

With surgical steadiness, Q carefully slid the leg into the cloth. He rubbed the skin tight material down, getting the wrinkles to smooth out all the way up to 007's knee until he realized what he was doing. The Quartermaster glanced up with trepidation. 007 was just watching him with a mild, bordering on scientific expression. A quick scan let the Raven know that everyone else was far too fascinated with the show the other two Double-O's were putting on to even look over at them.

Bond even gave him a half grin and moved his hand out of the way. "You're quite safe Q." He kept his voice just loud enough to heard, soft enough to drown under the ruckus.

The Raven felt a warm feeling flutter through him and continued with his work. He actually allowed himself some measure of enjoyment when he got to rub across the broad shoulders. After working the rest of Bond's legs and his arms Q wheeled around to the front without thinking and was immediately held in place with an ice blue glance. Bond raised a brow in amusement and held his arms to the side. Q glanced behind him at his still distracted colleagues.

"I'll keep watch." Bond whispered, swiftly skimming a hand over Q's hip.

Q shivered. It felt rather pleasant, as did the rest of the Double-O assassin. He folded the fabric together. It sealed itself by his design and he pressed it down smoothly across the cut muscle. There was a flick on Q's calf and he glanced down. The Tiger's tail wrapped lightly against his trousers. The Quartermaster smoothed down the material over Bond's pecs. The ring of the tail tightened slightly and Q felt a flush cross his face and quickly shook it away. He met 007's eyes and they shared a small shy smile. Bond looked very, very pleased with something. With a finally flitting touch Q spun to stand next to Bond and watch as the Double-O's flirted with the technicians.

"Be careful out there Double-O Seven." Q said with a quiet snap to his wings as the three were re-dressed and ready to head out. "Wouldn't want all that muscle to go to waste."

"That would be quite the tragedy." Bond said suddenly grabbing his own wrist.

He looked around the table, concerned. The brow furrowed over his blue eyes.

Q squinted, "What's wrong?"

Bond shook his head. "Nothing." Finally he just bobbed his head. "Well. Quartermaster." The Tiger nodded his goodbye and followed the other agents out.

The Raven nodded and squinted. He paced around helping with clean-up of the extra materials scissors. He fetched a cup of tea and went to check in on the agents after their three hour flight. Q opened his wings and sat down on his stool for the first time since that morning. Q froze in confusion as his pocket tugged in an unfamiliar manner. Then he groaned. He checked in with the other two agents then pulled up Bond's comm.

"Agent Double-O Seven?"

"Afternoon Quartermaster." The smooth voice came over the link.

Q set his elbows on his desk and ran his hands through his hair. "D-did you happen to misplace a watch?"

"Oh! Did you find it?"

The hands in his hair clenched. "Not exactly."

There was a pause on Bond's end. "And that would mean?"

"I have a rather bad habit. It's not entirely under my control," Q explained, "A lot of Ravens happen to be attracted to luminescent or reflective objects and I may have picked it up." He pressed his palms to his eyes and waited.

"Alright." The Tiger hummed. "How about you return it to me over dinner Wednesday night?"

"Yes, absolutely!" The Raven immediately agreed to return the item as he always would. His mind suddenly spun. "Wait dinner?"

"I believe you have already agreed. Speak with you later Q."

The comm flicked off and Q caught his breathe. A mess or an opportunity all coming from returning a watch. Q ruffled his wings and his hair.


	6. Chapter 6

Q was absolutely smitten with waking up in the morning.

He used to bloody hate it honestly. Hated the slow drag to consciousness, hated hauling his typically sore and un-rested body out of bed. Somehow he had always managed to crush his wings some time during the night as he slept on his back. His tea took forever to warm up while he was making it. His feet were cold on the tile floor. Maybe worst of all he woke up alone. Instinctively he wanted someone around. He was a flocking creature anyways.

Now though, he still woke up alone in bed. Several scents hit his nose immediately upon awakening. The first was the pungent, masculine smell of Tiger. It was so prevalent because James always left some piece of clothing on the bed where Q's questing hands could find it. Currently buried under his face was the agent's long black coat with the silver toggles that the Raven adored. He felt rested and happy. The Tiger had found a way to hold them both so that neither's respective part were crushed in the process. Plus with James, Q could actually hold still. He didn't toss and turn anymore. He opened his wings and let them stretch in either direction. The muscles extended, testing the air.

The younger male fingered the silver bits under him. They were warm to the touch and basked in the rare sunny English morning to radiate brilliantly. He could hear the padding of predatory feet in the kitchen and knew that James could be completely silent if he wanted to. The Tiger let him know he was still present. Still with him, physically and mentally. The smell of warm tea caught his interest but the smell of his favorite feline distracted his attention back to the felt jacket beneath him. He rubbed his face against it, settling his lips over the silver toggle and felt the now mildly cool metal against his mouth.

"Good morning, darling." A deep rumble did bring him away from his current task.

A hand settled on the base of his spine and he finally looked up. "I love you."

James bent down and kissed his shoulder, stroking his wing. "That's quite a way to greet the morning." He kissed Q. "I love you too Alexander."

"Tea?" The Raven simpered, opening his green eyes to plead with the man.

He knew how much power that expression gained over the agent. Not that the Tiger took too much convincing anyways. Q reached up and cupped one of James's soft ears. The man purred slightly and nuzzled the Quartermaster's bare skin.

"Of course." He paced back out of the room.

The Raven enjoyed the view of the muscular male in just his sleeping shorts, tail swishing with pleasure at the warmth and scent of his mate relaxed in bed. Q pressed his nose back to the coat. Musk and cologne and pure James Bond and some of his own smell. He cooed at that thought. His agent held his scent with him wherever he went.

"Marking me?" James chuckled re-entering the room and setting Q's mug on the bedside table.

Q grinned, watching James getting dressed. "Absolutely. Let those other buggers know you're taken."

The Tiger stalked over in a nice pair of slacks and his shirt unbuttoned. "I am yours Quartermaster, Q, Alexander. Never forget that." He stroked the younger's chin tenderly. "Besides, this is just a Board of Double-O's meeting. They all know you could slowly tear their lives apart while they watch from the sidelines."

The Raven nuzzled the cloth again. "They'd better." He took the toggle entirely into his mouth and just held it.

James snapped his nice suit coat on and affixed all the buttons in their proper position. He glanced over at the dozing Quartermaster.

"I need my coat Alex."

A faint caw bubbled up as Q hugged the fabric closer.

The older agent laughed. "Come on," He hunched over the bare back and under the soft wings, "Some of us aren't lucky enough to not be going in today."

Reluctantly Q traded the jacket for a kiss and watched the gleaming toggles fasten.

"Have a good day." Q bid, admiring the Tiger striding out the doorway.

With a wink, James vanished around the corner with his jacket. Q sighed contentedly, his wingtips coming to rest on the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you sure you're alright?" Q held James's forearms.

The Tiger gave him a soft grin as he glowed bluewhite in the moonlight. The mission had been rough. Somewhere in America and of course they had their hands on American tech which, of course, had to be the highest quality explosive. The only thing Americans knew how to do, blow things up. The fire ball had torn up five blocks with the shockwave completely obliterating the building it had been set off in. It was like a nuclear explosion, fire and ash. 007 had been running. Q only remembered screaming himself hoarse at the two agents to get out of there. The minions had cowered from his high pitched, croaking scream and randomly beating wings. He was fairly sure he had knocked over three towers and broken one of the great screens on the wall.

No one had died. Both agents made it out and the retrieval team made it to the right place at the right time. 004 had gotten completely out of range. 007, infuriatingly, had paused to pick up his gun and got a little damage. The left side of him looked like a harsh sunburn and his shoulder was open and a little bloody where the dead skin had had to be removed. Now it was carefully bandaged under the Raven's gentle fingers.

James leaned forward. "I am now." He touched his forehead to the Quartermaster's.

The Raven wrapped his wings around him lightly and felt the scorched tail rest on his calf. Normally it would wrap around him and hold his leg but the agent hurt. It hurt Q too. A gentle ache in the side of his chest that slowly burned and reprieved as James recovered. Said man lipped at his ear.

Q snickered and tapped him lightly. "Go get a shirt you, then we'll order take-out and crash for the night."

007 leaned back grinning at his Raven. "That sounds glorious."

The Siberian Tiger slowly but steadily passed through the doorway to the bedroom. Q watched his back fondly. He turned to the mess at the front door. James's coat had been tossed aside along with his suit top. Q raked up the coat and hung it neatly by the door. He smoothed it down gently and admired the black crossing his own dun-green windbreaker. With a smiling sigh the Raven bent down and grabbed the last piece of clothing. He flipped it over his arm.

A spark flew from the pocket. It hit the floor and rolled with a metallic buzz. The small circle fell on its side in the light from the window. Q's eyes widened. The little circle sparkled, it glowed, it glittered a hundred different colors. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The sheen glinted against his eyes. Q's wings pumped as he knelt down. With one finger he touched. The light flickered and rainbows spread across his wondering vision. It was a ring, beautifully laden with clear gemstones that caught the moon's ghostly glow and reflected. Finally the Quartermaster picked it up and let it entrance him from his open palm.

"Pretty isn't it?" Bond purred from the doorway, smoothing down his shirt. "Picked it up during the mission."

"Shiny." Q said breathlessly.

He shook his head to straighten it out. He looked up only to find James kneeling with him on the floor. The agent held out a hand. Q reluctantly placed the ring in his hand. The blue eyes glinted and looked from the ring up to his Raven purposefully.

"Alexander, you can keep this," He twisted the ring at just the right angle to catch the light amazingly, "If you tell me something."

That made Q look away. "I would tell you anything James. You don't have to bribe me with shiny things."

The Tiger leaned forward, "But I wanted to."

Q studied him then nodded. "Of course."

James picked the ring between his fingers, looking right in the green eyes. "Will you marry me, Alex?"

Q opened his mouth in shock. He worked his jaw like a fish for a moment the he pushed himself forcefully forward with his wings and crashed into James's lips.

"Yes. Yes. Oh my God, yes." The Raven pushed himself into 007's lap.

The agent grinned like a madman and accepted every hasty, enthusiastic movement. Somewhere in the midst, he slipped the shining ring over Q's finger. It fit perfectly and was guaranteed to stay put for a very long time. The Tiger purred happily and Q, for once, basked in the glitter of a permanent fixture.


End file.
